n8n-create-skill

name n8n:create-skill description Guides users through creating effective Agent Skills. Use when you want to create, write, or author a new skill, or asks about skill structure, best practices, or SKILL.md format. Creating skills Skills are markdown (plus optional scripts) that teach the agent a focused workflow. Keep SKILL.md short —the context window is shared with chat, code, and other skills. Where skills live Location When to use .agents/skills/<name>/ Default for n8n: team-shared, versioned, agent-neutral source. .claude/plugins/n8n/skills/<name>/ Claude-specific override, or a generated symlink to .agents/skills/<name>/ . .opencode/skills/<name>/ OpenCode-specific override only. Shared skills stay in .agents/skills/<name>/ . ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ Personal skill for Claude Code across all projects. ~/.config/opencode/skills/<name>/ Personal skill for OpenCode across all projects. ~/.cursor/skills/<name>/ Optional personal skill for Cursor only, global to your machine. Do not put custom skills in ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/ —that is reserved for Cursor’s built-in skills. Prefer .agents/skills/ for anything that should match how the rest of the team works. Run pnpm sync:skill-links after adding or removing shared skills. Before you write: gather requirements Ask (or infer) briefly: Purpose — one concrete task or workflow. Triggers — when should the agent apply this skill? Gaps — what does the agent not already know (project rules, URLs, formats)? Outputs — templates, checklists, or strict formats? Examples — follow an existing shared skill in .agents/skills/ if one fits. Ask the user in plain language when you need more detail. File layout skill-name/ ├── SKILL.md # required ├── reference.md # optional — detail the agent reads only if needed ├── examples.md # optional └── scripts/ # optional Frontmatter (required) --- name: n8n:skill-name # n8n:<name> — lowercase, hyphens, max 64 chars description: >- # max 1024 chars, non-empty — see below ... --- Name — shared n8n skills use the n8n:<name> form so Claude Code namespaces them under the n8n plugin (invoked as /n8n:<name> ). The <name> part must match the skill's directory name. Description (discovery is everything — third person, WHAT + WHEN, trigger words): Good: Extracts tables from PDFs and fills forms. Use when the user works with PDFs, forms, or document extraction. Bad: Helps with documents or I can help you with PDFs Authoring rules Concise — assume the model is capable; only add non-obvious domain or project facts. Progressive disclosure — essentials in SKILL.md ; long reference in reference.md . Link one level deep from SKILL.md . Prefer one default — e.g. one library or one workflow; add an escape hatch only if needed. Stable wording — one term per concept; avoid dated “until month X” notes unless you tuck legacy bits behind a short “Deprecated” note. Paths — forward slashes only ( scripts/foo.py ). Rough size: aim for well under ~200 lines in SKILL.md ; if it grows, split detail out. Scope: one job per skill (and parent skills) Single responsibility — one primary workflow or decision tree per skill. If triggers and steps diverge a lot (e.g. “create issue” vs “create PR” vs “full ticket → PR flow”), split into smaller dedicated skills . Prefer small + compose — two or three focused skills keep irrelevant detail out of context until needed. A parent (orchestrator) skill can say when to follow each child workflow and link to their SKILL.md ; avoid pasting full child content into the parent. When one large skill is OK — a single end-to-end flow that always runs together and shares one tight checklist; MCPs, CLI tools, and other skills Prefer CLI and repo commands when they solve the same problem — agents handle them well and they usually add less scaffolding noise to context than MCP tool discovery and schemas. Examples: gh for PRs/issues, pnpm scripts from AGENTS.md . MCPs are optional per user — not everyone has the same servers enabled. If a skill requires a specific MCP to work as written, say so explicitly: Put a hint in the frontmatter description (e.g. “Requires Linear MCP for …”) so mismatches are obvious early. Add a short Prerequisites (or Requirements ) block near the top: which integration, what it is used for, and a fallback (e.g. web UI, gh , or “ask the user to paste …”) when it is missing. Referencing other skills — use the harness-visible invocation name (e.g. n8n:create-issue where namespacing is available, otherwise create-issue ). For human-readable links, give the canonical path from the repo root (e.g. .agents/skills/create-issue/SKILL.md ). From a sibling folder, a relative link works too: [create-issue](../create-issue/SKILL.md) . Parent skills should delegate steps instead of duplicating long procedures. Patterns (pick what fits) Template — give the exact output shape (markdown/code blocks). Checklist — numbered or - [ ] steps for multi-step work. Branching — “If A → …; if B → …” at the top of a workflow. Scripts — document run commands; say whether to execute or read the script. Workflow: create → verify Name + description — hyphenated name; description with triggers. Outline — minimal sections; link optional files. Implement — SKILL.md first; add reference.md / scripts/ only if they save tokens or reduce errors. Check — third-person description; terminology consistent; no duplicate encyclopedic content the model already knows. Anti-patterns Verbose tutorials (“what is a PDF”) inside the skill. Many equivalent options with no default. Vague names ( helper , utils ). Deep chains of linked files. Assuming an MCP or tool is present without stating it or offering a fallback. One oversized skill that mixes unrelated workflows instead of smaller skills + a thin parent. Quick example stub --- name: n8n:my-workflow description: Does X using project convention Y. Use when the user asks for X or mentions Z. --- # My workflow 1. … 2. … ## Output format Use a fenced code block for the exact shape reviewers should see. ## More detail See [ reference.md ]( reference.md ) if edge cases matter.